Some Wings Must Bleed

Chapter 28 - The Library

"Here we are!" I exclaimed, clasping my hands together and looking to Kurapika. "It's the library! I've told you about it before but we have never had the chance to go! Seeing as we'll be pretty busy after today, I thought it would be a nice thing to do!"

Kurapika took his gaze from the building and looked to me, a smile on his face. "It looks lovely."

I smiled back to him, my eyes lingering on his face before snapping back to the building. "Let's go!" I said, skipping to the door.

The library was very aesthetically pleasing and smelled of dust and wood, making it oddly nostalgic to be in.  I looked over to Kurapika and saw him looking around the room in awe. I felt content watching the boy as he slowly walked further in to the library, his happiness making me want to feel happy too. I began wondering through the library, dragging my hand along the shelves and over the backs of the many books that resigned in them. I made my way to the romance section, which was the area in the library I was most familiar with. Kurapika was completely absorbed in a blue novel with birds on the cover, so I decided to take my favorite book off of one of the shelves and begin to read it.

I leaned against one of the book cases and flipped to a random page of the romance novel. It was the part where the protagonist and the love interest finally made love to one another. I had read it many times before, but for some reason reading it in that moment in the library felt rather embarrassing. Nonetheless, I began skimming the pages, reading the familiar words as images of the story danced in my head. 'The brunette climbed on top of him, feeling his heat and basking in the known love between them.'

I suddenly blushed and blinked a couple of times, realizing that the people I had imagined making love weren't the main characters of the novel, but my hunter and I. I felt my eyes open wider and my hand shoot up to my mouth as the idea of making love to Kurapika swam around my head. His lips on mine, his hands on me, his gentle touch against my skin. I inhaled sharply and froze for a moment, closing the book and letting out a shaky breath.

"(Y/n)?"

I yelped and dropped the book, my head snapping to the voice. "K-Kurapika you scared the shit out of me." I breathed, bending over and picking the book up.

"I'm sorry, I assumed you would hear me approaching you... You look flushed, are you alright?"

"F- I'm, yeah. Fine. How do you like the um, library?" I fumbled out, looking everywhere but the hunter.

"It's beautiful, I'm enjoying myself."

"I'm, glad. I was hoping you'd like it." I said, my composure slowly returning.

"... Have you read that book before?" Kurapika said after a moment, gesturing to the novel in my hands.

I looked down to the book, realizing I was holding on to it a bit too tightly. "Yes, it's one of my favorites. I used to hide it behind other books when I was younger, so I knew it would always be accessible to me." I chuckled, flipping it over and placing it back on its' shelf.

Kurapika looked at it for a moment before taking it back off of the shelf and examining it. "Would you mind if I read it?" He asked, his eyes looking from the book to me.

I felt my face heat up as he looked into my eyes. "I-I didn't know you liked romances..."

"Well, I don't usually read them, but it's said that reading something that someone else finds precious is like looking into their mind. I'd like to know what goes on in that pretty little brain of yours." Kurapika said half-distracted by the book, making my blush darken.

Did he call me pretty? He said the word pretty. Am I pretty to him? Does he think I'm pretty? He's just reading the summary of the book so I'm sure he wasn't really thinki- He called my brain pretty.